Famed chef reopens restaurant on 56th floor of Palms
His room with a view is returning.
Vetri Cucina, from celebrated chef Marc Vetri, is scheduled to reopen Nov. 1 on the 56th floor of the Palms. The restaurant is the Las Vegas outpost of the original Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, often named one of the most influential Italian restaurants in America.
The chef, a James Beard Award winner and multiple nominee, opened the Vegas Vetri in November 2018. Less than a year and a half later, he closed the restaurant in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, when the Palms itself also shuttered.
“It wasn’t something easy,” Vetri said of the closing, in an exclusive discussion with the Review-Journal. “It was a really special spot. We did not want to have all that work banished. The spot there was the best.”
In April, the Palms reopened under its new owners, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The new team, Vetri said, “reached out to all the restaurant folks to discuss some options, maybe switching it around a little bit. In the end, we all decided to reopen it as it is.”
Menus changing seasonally
From day one in 2018, Vetri Cucina received praised for the menu’s deft mingling of alta and rustica, innovation and tradition, something achieved through creativity, skill and great ingredients, as expressed in seasonally changing antipasti, pastas, fish and meat dishes, and desserts.
The fall menu, for the relaunch, features dishes like foie gras pastrami on toasted brioche with mostarda and a sweet onion crêpe with white truffle fondue, plump spinach gnocchi in brown butter and smoked baby goat bedded in fresh-milled polenta. There’s also a beverage program with beer, cocktails, and global wines by the glass and bottle.
The chef said he would head west monthly to be at the restaurant. Those panoramic views of the Strip and valley unfurl whenever dinner is served.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ItsJLW on Twitter.
